A Cry In The Night
by Crisi TM
Summary: In a post-Russell Edington world, the vampire-hating vultures are circling at Fangtasia, the queen is royally peeved at Eric and just where the heck is Sookie Stackhouse?


**A/N I made a new blog for myself where I updated both my stories and I will update it from now on one day before here. If you want to check it out , here is the link:**

http : / crisitm . wordpress . com/

**This is my entry for True blood on Twitter Writing Contest.**

_**Many thanks to my dear Beta, All About Eric for her patience and support while writing this.**_

**Disclaimer: All rights belong to Charlaine Harris and the creators of True Blood**

**Summary: In a post-Russell Edington world, the vampire-hating vultures are circling at Fangtasia, the queen is royally peeved at Eric and just where the heck is Sookie Stackhouse?**

There was a big crowd outside Fangtasia chanting anti-vampire slogans when Pam, Jessica and Hoyt came out of the bar. Pam was dressed in tight black leather pants with a matching leather jacket and high-heeled black leather boots; Jessica wore a nice, red, baby-doll dress and Hoyt had a checked shirt and jeans. They were very different from each other but in the face of the crowd they were the same: The Enemy.

"Steve Newlin's right! You're devils of the night!"

"What the hell!" cried Jessica, noticing all the FOTS people.

"Welcome to vampire nightlife, post-Russell Edgington," Pam replied in her usual, deadpan tone.

"Hey! Fangbanger!" a guy from the crowd yelled.

"You better not be talking to me," Hoyt said.

"So what if I was, fangbanger?" the inquisitive guy kept on.

Hoyt approached him, looking chagrined. "See that woman right there? Not that devil, that _woman_! Yeah, she's got fangs and yeah, you can bet your ass we're doing it all the time..."

"Hoyt! Hoyt, stop!" Jessica tried to intervene.

"Because we're in love! And there is not a damn wrong with being in love!" Hoyt kept going, raising his voice. "Now, how can you do this, and still call yourself a Christian?"

"I am Christian, God damn it!"

"And I am clearly more Christian than you. Because I got **love,**" Hoyt made a gesture to show his love flowing from his heart, "in my heart and you've got nothing but hate."

"You see my buddy over there, pointing his phone at us?"

"I'm rolling video. 720P, so I won't miss a thing you and your vamp whore..." the guy with the phone said keeping his phone pointed at Hoyt, and missing Jessica who came at him in vampire speed.

The crowd let out a frightened cry.

The guy with the phone finally noticed Jessica standing right in front of his phone with her fangs bared at him.

"Wanna call me that again?" Jessica asked.

"You two love-birds are going home, okay? Let these good people practice their constitutional right to be fucking idiots!" Pam interfered holding Hoyt and Jessica back.

"I might be a fucking idiot but at least I ain't dead!" a guy from the crowd yelled at Pam.

Hoyt started to take his leave when the first guy pushed him.

"Ah, what the fuck!" he said, and punched the guy in the face.

"Hoyt!" Jessica cried.

The guy Hoyt punched went down but another one jumped in to fight Hoyt, and then another one. Hoyt continued to fight them while Pam held Jessica.

"I know, I know, it's hard for you two," Pam soothed Jessica while the phone guy. "Technology is taking all the fun out of being a vampire."

A black Chevrolet Suburban came into the parking lot, almost running over the heated Fellowship people that gathered around the fight. A few people screamed and ran away so they wouldn't end up under the big car's wheels. Most of the guys backed down, not knowing who came with the Chevy, so the fight finally ended with Hoyt hitting one guy so hard that he couldn't get up onto his feet again. He was covered in blood - some was his, some was other people's, but for once Jessica didn't seem to even notice the blood as she approached Hoyt, eyeing the FOTS people around them.

"You should go home before they come at you again." Pam pushed them towards their car.

"Let them be, Hoyt, and let's go home." Jessica circled Hoyt's waist with her arm.

Hoyt limped towards his truck and got in the passenger's side with Jessica's help; while the Fellowship people, figuring that the people in the Suburban wouldn't interfere, began throwing things at the truck. Jessica jumped in the driving seat and started the car.

"Devil-woman, fangbanger..." The protesters' angry voices started to rise over the roar of the engine, but were no match for the screech of the tires as Hoyt's truck sped from the parking lot.

After Hoyt and Jessica took their leave Pam passed the Chevy that was leaving the Fangtasia parking lot - probably frightened by the things they saw.

"Great! More customers lost because of these idiots," she mumbled as she walked through the Fangtasia front door.

She passed through the bar and went straight to Eric's office. He was dressed in a black silk shirt opened all the way down the front and black jeans, lounging back in his chair with his boot- clad feet on the desk. He was watching a heated dispute between Nan Flanagan and Steve Newlin on the TV.

"Eric, we must do something about the fucking idiots outside. They are killing our business."

"Mmm, yes Pam and what would you suggest we do? Drain them? Organize a hunting party and hunt them down one by one? Imagine the headlines: 'Devils of the Night Kill Half of Shreveport!' That would look good to the PR people."

"Maybe we could be less dramatic and get a restraining order or something."

"Do you know each one of them, all their names?"

"No," Pam pouted, "but we can't let them continue to drive away our customers! We could at least notify the AVL."

"We are vampires; we don't have many rights yet, remember that, Pamela? And the AVL has enough on their hands right now with all the bad publicity Russell created."

"I hate this shit!"

"Good, now stop whining like a child and do something useful like seeing to the vermin. " Eric waved his hand towards the door.

"Isn't that your job?" Pam asked in a sassy tone.

"_My _job is what I say it is, Pamela!" he yelled at her. Eric got to his feet and walked towards the door. "I have better things to do than sit there and watch those blood bags drinking my booze and ogling my body."

"Of course you have better things to do! Like circling Sookie's house to see if she's back, right?"

Eric was on her in an instant, gripping her neck with one hand.

"Careful, my child. You forget your place!"

"Wasn't it enough that you risked meeting the sun for her? When will it end? Can't you see that I'm worried about you?" she asked while bloody tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.

Eric sighed and let go of her neck.

"You do not need to worry about me, Pam. I am fine." he mumbled in a weary voice.

Pam noticed Eric looked distant as he stepped back from her. Was he thinking of the part-fairy telepath?

"I know she's different but..."

"Enough of this, Pamela. Go see to the bar." and with that he left the room.

Eric landed smoothly in the cemetery near Sookie's house. He had done this every night since he discovered she was missing. He had tracked her smell leaving the house and coming here to her grandmother's grave and he had found some other strange smells around the grave - but then nothing.

He touched the grave-stone lightly with his fingertips and then went towards the house. The house looked better now than it had when he came here that first night. He had contracted a firm from Shreveport to fix the house and now the fresh paint was glowing softly in the moonlight.

"She's not here," a voice called to him from the left.

He knew who it was, of course. The creature's foul smell had been noticeable from the moment he landed.

"Do you know where she is, Shifter?"

"No, I don't. She's missed a lot of shifts in the last couple of weeks. She didn't even call her brother to let him know she was leaving somewhere."

Sam was seated on a rock at the edge of the treeline near Sookie's driveway. He looked very tired and his checked shirt was rumpled as if he had slept in it.

"Why would she call him? He's so stupid that he couldn't keep his mouth shut even if his lips were glued together."

"But he's still her family. Her **only** family. It's not like her to leave like this."

"I see."

"She is not the only one who is missing. Bill is missing, too. Didn't you know that? Isn't he supposed to check in with you before he leaves your area?"

"He was... indisposed the last time I saw him, so I thought he was lying low for a while, licking his wounds like a dog."

"Maybe Sookie ran away with him to get married or something..."

"NO. That is not a possibility."

Eric took off without another word.

_So Bill is missing... Could it be possible that Bill had kidnapped Sookie to have a chance to convince her of his love? No, however stupid the bastard was, he still loved Sookie and he would never do anything to hurt her. And Sookie wouldn't leave with him of her own accord; she would not forgive that fool so easily._

_There is something more to this... The Queen! Yes, the queen would not just give up on the fairy telepath after all the trouble she went to in order to 'procure' Sookie._

He landed in Fangtasia's back parking lot and went straight to his office. He had a phone call to make.

"This is Sheriff Northman of Area Five for The Queen" he spoke to the clerk who answered the phone.

"The Queen is busy right now, Sheriff; maybe Mr. Paul can help you?"

"Yes, put him on."

"Northman, how interesting that you should call right now. We were just speaking of you today - Sophie and me."

"Were you now? And what have you two been saying about me, if I may ask?"

"Of course you may ask. We were wondering if you were not too ... distracted ... to do your job properly. "

"Distracted, you say?"

"Why else would you not notice the outrageous crime committed by one of the vampires from your area?"

"Andre, stop fucking abound and say what you have to say!"

"Is that a way to talk to your Queen's child, Sheriff? What I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me was: Compton lured The Queen to his house under false pretenses and tried to kill her. And on top of that he lost the queens telepath! Is that clear enough for you?"

"The little prick! He will lose his head for this. You can assure The Queen that he will be taken care of."

"There is no need for that. Sophie is much older than him, she put him in his place ... in a very tight and silvery place, ha ha ha."

_Yes, Andre, veeeery funny._

"What does the queen need from me in the matter?"

"There, there Northman. The Queen doesn't trust you. You sold her to Edgington, remember? If you weren't so old you would be right beside Compton, enjoying the Queen's hospitality."

"I had no choice on the matter. Edgington was much older than me. I had to acquiesce. Besides, it's been a few weeks since then and the Queen hasn't demanded restitution, so I thought she understood why I did what I did."

"The Queen has been very busy lately, dealing with her deceased husband's estate and with Compton's punishment. And time is beside the point. We are vampires. Time is relative."

"You can assure the queen that I am still her loyal subject," Eric replied, in a fake humble tone.

"Yes, we are sure you are. Good night Sheriff."

The phone line went dead and Eric threw the phone against the wall.

_Compton__ is being punished by Sophie-Ann and that means he has no idea where Sookie is. And neither has the queen for that matter._

The door opened and Pam announced in a bored tone:

"Master, there are some witches here to see you. Chow is keeping them busy at the bar. "

"Bring them in and tell Chow to come too."

Pam went to bring the witches and Eric sat on his chair propping his elbows on the table and adopting a blank face.

A party of five witches came through the door that Pam left open. The leader of the party was a woman who carried herself with a great deal of pride. She appeared to be in her late forties, with reddish hair and evil, dark eyes. The other witches were trailing her footsteps with their heads lowered, all dressed in long dresses in dark colors - _unimportant witches_, Eric decided.

"Master, this is Marnie Stonebrook and her party - she says she has a proposition for you," Pam said.

"Very well, let's hear what you have to say, Witch."

"Good evening, Sheriff, nice to meet you. I have heard a lot of interesting things about you, so I thought I should meet you in person."

"You came here tonight just because you wanted to meet me?"

"No, of course not. I came here because I want your business. Would you be so kind as to give it to me?"

**Author's Note: I want to thank my friends Jaxg, Fairyblood and All About Eric for all their help while writing this.**


End file.
